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Friday, July 08, 2011

David Wells on Petitionary Prayer as Rebellion

“What, then, is the nature of petitionary prayer? It is, in essence, rebellion--rebellion against the world in its fallenness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal. It is, in this its negative aspect, the refusal of every agenda, every scheme, every interpretation that is at odds with the norm as originally established by God. As such, it is itself an expression of the unbridgeable chasm that separates Good from Evil, the declaration that Evil is not a variation on Good but its antithesis...

“It is therefore impossible to seek to live in God’s world on his terms, doing his work in a way that is consistent with who he is, without engaging in regular prayer.”
- David Wells, “Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo”
[http://resources.campusforchrist.org/images/3/33/David_Wells.pdf]

4 comments:

  1. John,

    while I embrace Wells in those words, I also embrace the Apostle's with the intent the Apostle lays out, here:

    "... that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way."


    Apparently, as it should be, God intends for us to pray to Him for all men so that we, the called, faithful, chosen, Elect Children may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way according to His power in this fallen world.

    I am finding my prayers to God are more frequent and seeking for Jesus to quickly transform my lowly body to be like His glorious Body, daily, with the power that He has that enables Him to subject all things to Himself! :)

    How's your wife doing? I am continuing in my prayers for her as I shared with you already!

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  2. Hi Natamllc, thanks for your prayers, and thanks for asking.

    She is in a “pre-conditioning” phase at this point. She had her first round of Vidaza, a low-intensity, genetic-based chemotherapy, from June 25-29 (five days). She gets three weeks off from that, then begins another round July 25. The doctors have told us that she will undergo either “two or three cycles” of Vidaza. At that point, we think, she will be ready for “conditioning” – heavy chemo and radiation, to kill as much of the disease as possible, followed by the “bone marrow transplant.”

    (I keep putting that in “quotes” because it’s not really “bone marrow” that gets transplanted, it’s stem cells from the blood of either an anonymous adult donor or blood from umbilical cords.)

    She actually worked last night (she is a shift-supervisor in an assisted care living home), and has plans to be working each of the next seven nights - she’s keeping an obligation she made several months ago to cover for a friend who was going on vacation. Her nurse said that’s a good way to keep her mind focused on something other than her illness.

    She is physically tired a good bit, and she tends to get discouraged a lot. That said, she seems to be responding well to the first round of treatment.

    The MDS mostly affects pre-blood cells called “blasts”. These “blast” cells are like primordial blood cells – in healthy people, they “grow up” and differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The cancer process somehow prevents these “blasts” from growing up. They remain as blasts, and they remain in the bone marrow, where they continue to “gum up the works”.

    So as her red and white blood cells die off (and they do in all of us), they are not replaced. Whether the diagnosis is MDS or a more aggressive form of leukemia really depends on the speed at which this process occurs. But my understanding is that it is the same process.

    They treat symptoms of tiredness with blood transfusions, and they watch her hemoglobin levels closely. Let me give you an example: she also worked last weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights). Last Thursday, her blood level was down to 8.2 (normal is 12-15) – this makes her feel crappy, and is low enough for her to require a transfusion (I think if it falls below 8.5 they want to give her blood).

    Because it was a holiday weekend, there wasn’t enough time to make arrangements for her to get her transfusion. (Two pints of blood – it takes about 6 or hours for that entire process.) So she worked all weekend, and had her blood tests again on Tuesday. The good news is that her blood level stayed at 8.2. (That is, with all the hard work, and all the dying off of red blood cells, and she still managed to keep her level. That indicates that the Vidaza is enabling her body to produce its own blood cells.)

    But the hard part is yet to come.

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    Replies
    1. I was thinking about this quote today. I googled it and your post was the second or third that came up.

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    2. Thanks Jacob, this is good to know.

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